JERUSALEM - The diary of a 14-year-old Jewish girl dubbed the “Polish Anne Frank” was unveiled on Monday, chronicling the horrors she witnessed in a Jewish ghetto — at one point watching a Nazi soldier tear a Jewish baby away from his mother and kill him with his bare hands.

The diary, written by Rutka Laskier in 1943 shortly before she was deported to Auschwitz, was released by

Israel’s Holocaust museum more than 60 years after she recorded what is both a daily account of the horrors of the Holocaust in Bedzin, Poland and a memoir of the life of a teenager in extraordinary circumstances.

“The rope around us is getting tighter and tighter,” the teenager wrote in 1943, shortly before she was deported to Auschwitz. “I’m turning into an animal waiting to die.”

Within a few months Rutka was dead and, it seemed, her diary lost.

Articol original: Polish girl’s Holocaust diary unveiled, By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer

Care e probabilitate ca el sa fi fost gasit mai demult insa sa se fi asteptat momentul prielnic “lansarii” stirii? Sau, care ar fi fost posibilitatea ca el sa fi fost confectionat ? Dar hai sa nu fim paranoici…

Paranoia e un handicap nici pe departe o virtute, se stie deja. Astept inteligentii autoproclamati sau proclamati de neproclamati sa mai sustina ca scepticismul e si el odovada de inteligenta. Nu-i, nici n-a fost decat in imaginatia unora ce s-au imaginat in imagine de intelectual

Popularity: 19% [?]

5 June 2007. Happy birthday Vanda, Radio Lynx.

Dedicatie: U2 - Beautiful day

Popularity: 7% [?]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If you’ve ever wondered how to give a man-hug, a newly relaunched online video site, VideoJug, is here to help.

VideoJug makes its debut in the U.S. on Sunday, aiming to provide the meaning on everything one encounters in life, if not the meaning of life itself.

More than 15,000 video clips explaining everything from how to tie a Windsor knot to how to cope with chemotherapy accompany the relaunch of the site. An additional 100,000 originally produced clips are promised over the summer.

The site endeavors to answer the question: “How do we do life?”

video jug, videojug

Articol original: Life’s instructions on redesigned VideoJug.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

Fresh privacy fears have been sparked after it emerged that Apple has embedded personal details into music files bought from its iTunes music store.

Technology websites examining iTunes products discovered that personal data, including the names and e-mail addresses of purchasers, are inserted into the AAC files that Apple uses to distribute music tracks.

The information is also included in tracks sold under Apple’s iTunes Plus system, launched this week, where users pay a premium for music that is free from the controversial digital rights management (DRM) intended to protect against piracy.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation, the online consumer rights group, added that it had identified a large amount of additional unaccounted-for information in iTunes files.

[…]

An Apple spokeswoman was unable to comment.

Articol original: Information hidden in iTunes music files sparks privacy fears, Rhys Blakely, Times Online

Popularity: 9% [?]

Jessica Cutler, who is a the blogger of the Washingtonienne - a sex-scandal blog - today filed for bankruptcy in New York Court.

Her work at Senate and a book deal with Playboy brought Jessical Cutler some fame, but she lost her job at Capitol Hill.

Cutler is a former aide to ex-Senator Mike DeWine (Republican). She created the “washingtonienne” blog and started to post detailed stories about her sex life with six men, including a Senate colleague and a few generous older gentlement, who, according to her, paid many of her living expenses, reports AP.

The discovery of the blog cost Jessical Cutler to lose her job

[…]

Why is this story about Jessica Cutler important? Actually it is. […] Where does the line cross between online personal privacy and free speech? Perhaps the development of Jessical Cutler’s story may shed some clarity on the issue.

Articol original: Jessica Cutler Online Privacy vs Free Speech, Huliq.com

Popularity: 11% [?]

HONOLULU-Astronomers have discovered 28 new planets outside of our solar system, increasing to 236 the number of known exoplanets, revealing that planets can exist around a broad spectrum of stellar types-from tiny, dim stars to giants.

“We added 12 percent to the total in the last year, and we’re very proud of that,” said one of the study team members Jason Wright of the University of California at Berkeley. “This provides new planetary systems so that we can study their properties as an ensemble.”

Sursa: 28 New Exoplanets Discovered, Jeanna Bryner

Popularity: 10% [?]

Thursday, May 31 brings us the second of two full Moons for North Americans this month. Some almanacs and calendars assert that when two full Moons occur within a calendar month, that the second full Moon is called the “Blue Moon.”The full Moon that night will likely look no different than any other full Moon. But the Moon can change color in certain conditions.After forest fires or volcanic eruptions, the Moon can appear to take on a bluish or even lavender hue.

 […]

The phrase “Once in a blue Moon” was first noted in 1824 and refers to occurrences that are uncommon, though not truly rare. Yet, to have two full Moons in the same month is not as uncommon as one might think. In fact, it occurs, on average, about every 32 months. And in the year 1999, it occurred twice in a span of just three months!

Source: The Truth Behind This Month’s Blue Moon, Joe Rao

Mai multe despre Blue Moon pe Wikipedia - link

Update: 

Kentucky Blue Moon Celebration May 31-June 1 At Lake Barkley State Resort Park - link

Once in a Blue Moon - link

Photography copyright: NASA

Popularity: 16% [?]

 

 Romania a castigat Golden Palm cu filmul: 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days

28 Mai 2007

 

 

Popularity: 11% [?]

Luke: I can’t believe it.

Yoda: That is why you fail.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Romania incepe sa renasca, la fel ca orice lucru de pe pamant. Totu-i un ciclu. O sa vina bine si-o sa mai vina rau.

Zilele astea romanii fac furori la Cannes. “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” face furori in presa Internationala fiind judecat ca unul dintre posibilele castigatoare.

Fara a pune la indoiala calitatea filmului - de care va trebui sa ma conving(inca nu l-am vizionat), nu pot sa nu atrag atentia faptului ca festivalurile trebuie luate doar ca publicitate si reactie a unui mic grup de oameni, nu ca un standard de calitate. Iti ofera o expunere mare, insa o recenzie bazata pe juriu(fie el specialisti sau public); dorintele publicului, imagine si publicitate(in cazul in care e vroba de premii pentru vanzari); dar mai ales conjuncturi.

E foarte bine ca Romania puncteaza inca un festival international si e si mai bine pentru imaginea noastra daca il castigam si sper sa nu ajungem sa facem lucruri pentru premii ci pentru evolutie.

Tuturor le place sa vada chestii spectaculoase, probleme de societate si lucruri prin care nu au trecut sau le-au lasat in urma de mult timp(aici intervine nostalgia). Un alt film cu un subiect incitant pentru straini: comunismul.

Putem uita totusi de comunism? Putem merge mai departe?… Putem sa ne desprinde de imaginea asta, sa o lasam in urma si sa evoluam? Filmele noastre castigatoare la competitii straine stralucesc doar prin subiect, insa in spatele acestuia mai trebuie sa evolueze celelalte. De aceea avem doar filme si nu revolutionari. De aceea avem succese de moment, mici si neraspandite la public. Suntem inca mici, alegem subiecte facile. N-avem curaj.

 Clip din 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Cat despre filmul acesta, din clipul de mai sus… pare cu mult mai bun decat Domnul Lazarescu, insa despre el si calitatea lui ma abtin, atat timp cat nu l-am vazut. Bafta Romania!

Informatii oficiale despre 4 luni, 2 saptamani si 2 zile pe site-ul Festivalului Cannes (2007) - link

Romanian Films from Cannes directly to TIFF (2007)  - link

Photo copyright AFP(Link din site-ul Cannes)

Popularity: 12% [?]